Does anyone else have the same problem as I experience with AA rechargeable batteries in the Ist DL2? Even after newly charging a set of batteries (Ansmann - not recharged too many times) when I put them in the camera it records them as not being charged. HAve tried many different types of rechargeables and even wrote to Pentax Technical whizzes, but no help. If you have experienced the same problem or have any suggestions please come back to me. I'm a new user on the Forum but have had the Ist for a number of years and also have a K10D, with which I have no battery problems at all.

Hi,
Does this problem affect only the rechargeable batteries you mention??? Is it a new problem, ie they have worked fine before?

I am not sure that the power of the batteries has anything to do with it, but if the camera works fine with lithium (which are best in my opinion) or alkaline then I struggle to work out what the problem might be....

I had similar problems with my istDL2. I changed to Uniross Hybrio rechargables and have had no further problems. Hybrio batteries come ready charged and have low drain technology. Others have said that Sanyo Eneloop batteries are similar. Friendly Regards
Graham

Thanks so much for your replies. Could not work out how to reply to you individually, but have tried many types of battery, all with the same result. Have not tried the ones specified by Graham, so will try to get some of them and see if I fare any better.

I have a DL2 and a Samsung GX10 (K10D clone). The DL2 was unused for a while after I got the GX10. When I went back to it I had a problem that neither rechargeables, nor alkaline would work, got the empty battery flashing icon.

Following advice on this and other forums I tried Energizer Ultimate Lithium, and these have worked fine. However, after my earlier problems, I always remove them between use, and usually when I put them back, I get the empty flashing icon, I remove & re-insert then they show full power.

Recently they have been on offer at ASDA & Tesco for £3.99 a 4 pack, normally £6.99. It's worth a try at that price, I'm still on my first set, and they're still showing full power after quite a bit of use.

I'm still having this problem with my DL2. It doesn't matter what type of batteries I use, whether they be rechargable or Energizer Ultimate Lithium. I've even tried cleaning the contacts and using a graphite pencil on them, but I still get only 2 or 3 shots before the camera tells me that the battery is depleted.

I'm very close to just throwing it in the bin, I'm so frustrated, particularly on the day I'd travelled 60 miles to photograph a steam loco, and had taken 8 (yes, eight) fully-charged sets of batteries with me, and I wasn't able to take a single shot. When I got home, I checked the batteries and they were all fine.

On my old *istD there were occasionally problems with NEW batteries. I would switch ON/OFF several times before the camera would come to life and sometimes I would need to just short circuit the battery (through a low value resistor) to kick them into life. Then they would perform fine.

I also have a thought in my mind about a "battery type" setting - cannot remember if the *istDx series had this or not or it might have been with older film cameras.

Ultimately it is down to the battery chemistry and on-load voltage. Some will be as low as 1.2v and others as high as 1.5 which with 4 in series is a significant difference.

I had this issue with my 2006 *ist DL2 - brand new batteries simply resulted in the flashing empty battery symbol and the camera failing to switch on - tried alkaline, NIMH and Lithium. Strangely, replacing the previous (partially depleted set of batteries) and the camera would switch on fine.

Eventually I decided to leave a set of the brand new lithium batteries in the camera overnight (approx 12 hrs), with the camera switched on and empty battery symbol flashing. The next morning the empty battery symbol was still flashing, however when I switched the camera off and then back on again - HEY PRESTO! The camera switched on and the display showed a full battery symbol.

It appears that a new set of batteries has to be "initialised" in some way. At the moment I know that it appears to require a maximum of 12hrs to do this, so will experiment to determine the minimum amount of time required.

Really glad I got it working - I had also emailed pentax support, but got a response saying that the camera was too old and that parts were no longer available.